After more than a week of searching the wilds, RCMP and the Quesnel Search and Rescue (QSAR) say the missing man from Williams Lake has been found alive.
39-year-old Andrew Barber was last seen and heard from on July 29th, and was reported missing a few days later. The man was found on Friday, August 8.
RCMP had been searching for Barber since August 3. Using a helicopter and patrols to try to find his truck, which he had been reported using when he disappeared.
On August 4, the second day, the RCMP called QSAR to assist.
“It was a large area that we’d have to try to find the truck,” says Bob Zimmerman, of QSAR. “It’s so large, we had to search by air as you can’t go in a truck or ATV as there are hundreds of kilometres of trails in that area. We used multiple different methods to try and ping his cellphone battery, as there is no reception, we couldn’t use the towers.”
“On August 8, the RCMP helicopter was available, and we put one of our volunteers in as an observer. At that time, they came in at the right angle to be able to catch sunlight off the windshield of the truck by some trees. They ended up spotting the subject standing by a small lake, southeast of where his truck had been parked.”
Barber was located roughly 55 kilometres northwest of Williams Lake on the west side of the Fraser River, near the Marguerite area.
Zimmerman says Barber had made a shelter out of branches and moss alongside a large rock that he had written ‘HELP’ with mud. He had also stuffed grass in his clothes to keep warm through the nights. He had also been surviving on pond and lake water, as he did not have any food with him.
“He did the smart thing. When he came upon this little lake by the big rock in an open area, he stayed right there and built a shelter so that he could be out in the open in case somebody did happen to fly over.”
Barber was recovered by the RCMP before being transferred to the BC Ambulance Service. Zimmerman says Barber “was in rough shape” with very low strength, but otherwise, had no other injuries.
Zimmer added that this is a good case of how dangerous the lack of cellphone coverage can be in the backcountry. He recommends that anyone going out try to carry a communication device that connects to satellites, so they can message for assistance and their location.
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